Advertisers went all out in honor of music’s biggest night. Monday’s CBS broadcast of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards saw a turnout of 51 brands and 82 commercials. Overall, the ads earned close to 614 million TV impressions and were watched, on average, 87% of the way through. Additionally,13 brands took the opportunity to debut new campaigns during the show, including two that blurred the lines between commercial and content.
A New Take on Advertising
Intel and Target took the nontraditional route for their Grammys advertising, with musical collaboration campaigns that not only embraced, but contributed to, the award show.
Haus of Gaga
Gwen Stefani – Make Me Like You (2016 Live GRAMMYs)
Intel partnered with Lady Gaga for her musical performance honoring David Bowie and, in addition to contributing a heavy dose of intel technology-fueled special effects during the performance, also aired two ads starring Lady Gaga leading up to it. Despite their novelty, “Haus of Gaga” and “Experience the Lady Gaga + Collaboration” scored relatively low with earned engagement during the show, earning just 0.39% and 0.23% Digital Share of Voice, respectively.
Target further pushed the boundaries of advertising by creating the first-ever live music video. The four-minute video featured Gwen Stefani performing her song, “Make Me Like You,” on a Target-branded set. Despite promoting the Target exclusive edition of Gwen’s new album, the ad hardly felt like an ad at all and prompted tweets like this one: “Remember that time when one of the highlights of the #Grammys was a Target commercial?” -@jbouvier
But, similar to Intel, the ad’s originality failed to translate into much digital engagement for Target; of the 82 commercials that aired, Target’s placed 60th for Digital Share of Voice.
What Ad Actually Won With Audiences During the Grammys?
Interestingly, it was Pepsi’s more traditional “Joy of Pepsi” commercial that took home the award for most digital performance during the show. The ad first debuted during the Super Bowl, but has since aired over one thousand times and continued to be a strong performer. During the Grammys it came away with 18.7% Digital Share of Voice and a 91.8% Avg. View Rate.
See the rest of the night’s digital winners below.
Top 5 Most Engaging Ads of the Grammys
1. Pepsi, ‘Joy of Pepsi’ Featuring Janelle Monae Digital Share of Voice: 18.7%
2. Bud Light, ‘Art Museum Dance Party’ Digital Share of Voice: 12.8%
3. World MasterCard, ‘Go From Everyday to Priceless’ Digital Share of Voice: 12.3%
4. University of Phoenix, ‘More Than Brains’ Digital Share of Voice: 8.6%
5. CoverGirl, ‘Pump Up’ Featuring Katy Perry Digital Share of Voice: 6.8%